The horse, named Little Ed, was found mauled and mangled in his stall Monday morning.

"It's devastating," said Jennifer Bryan, whose children played with the horse owned by her mother. "He was our pet.”

Bryan said Little Ed was beloved by her three children and by neighborhood kids.

"They love him," she told KCRA 3. "He was perfect -- he could pull a pony cart and they could hang all over him."

A trapper came to the backyard stable and confirmed a dog attack. Officials said he then followed dog tracks to a nearby residential property.

Neighbors told officials it was home to two or three pit bulls frequently seen running loose.

County officials said the residents first denied owning the dogs, but later surrendered two pit bulls.

"We're testing their fur because we found some dried material," said Diana Barrett, the shelter manager for Sutter County Animal Services. "They were pretty much covered in this material, (which) could either be dried mud or blood."

Barrett said the dog’s stools are also being examined. If evidence links the dogs to the horse, they can be declared dangerous and vicious by the county.

If that happens, the shelter manager said the dogs cannot be returned to the owners.

"I think we're saying they would not be appropriate to be in the community, so they would be euthanized," Barrett said.

Bryan said one of the dog owners had expressed remorse over the incident during a phone call, but that she remains upset.

"I just cannot see somebody knowingly letting their pit bulls out to roam when (there's) animals around and children," she said.

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